Arthur’s Cafe taps go all local

Arthur’s Cafe in Hyde Park posted on their Facebook page yesterday that over the next month they’ll be changing their draft taps exclusively to beer brewed in Cincinnati.

Think about that for a minute.

This couldn’t have happened five years ago. It couldn’t have happened three years ago when we started Hoperatives. But, as bar manager Chris Goodin noted in the Facebook post, local brewing is making the resurgence we’ve all hoped for. I’ve always applauded (and promoted) the places that feature local beer (and I always will), but this is taking it to the next level. Arthur’s is one of the city’s great neighborhood bars and a move like this is a marriage made in heaven.

There’s going to be an event to celebrate the transition on Tuesday, October 23 (start time TBA). Representatives from the breweries will be there. Unless something really weird happens, we’ll be there, too. And no matter what, we’ll be back.

This is really cool and makes me wonder if we’ll ever get back to the point like Pre-Prohibition where each bar is “sponsored” by a specific brewery and serves only their beer. Not that I think that’s a great idea, but it use to be en vogue in the area.

@Mike S: That’s the notion of the “tied house” (which is the norm in Great Britain). It’s illegal now and has been since Prohibition. The whole reason we have the three-tiered system (Brewers, Wholesalers, Retailers) is to stop that very thing from happening.